One of those hidden little gem estates, the 2009 Château Charmail is a more Merlot-dominated red that includes 47% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Despite being a big, ripe, sexy beauty of a wine, it has a remarkable sense of freshness and purity, and it only gains in stature with time in the glass. Offering lovely notes of red and black currants, chocolate, tobacco leaf, earth, and truffle, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, beautiful tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish. Don't be afraid to give well-stored bottles plenty of air. This awesome little Margaux will continue evolving gracefully for another 10-15 years.

This is another over-achieving estate that tends to produce wines with lots of intensity and structure. This wine certainly has the formidable intensity one expects from Charmail but the tannins are silky smooth and the result is the sexiest Charmail to date. An opulent even voluptuously textured wine full-bodied and dense purple in color it is a seductive blend of 47% Merlot 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered and came in with natural alcohols of 14%. The low acidity plush fruit and silky tannins all suggest drinking this over the next decade. It is another sleeper of the vintage of which there is nearly an endless supply in this great year.

Dark and with a slight brawny edge as tar and coffee lead the way for dark fig and mulled currant fruit. Nice chewy tobacco-tinged finish. Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Best from 2013 through 2019.